An environmental factor, ecological factor or eco factor is any factor, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms. Abiotic factors include ambient temperature, amount of sunlight, air, soil, water and pH of the water soil in which an organism lives. Biotic factors would include the availability of food organisms and the presence of biological specificity, competitors, predators, and parasites.
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Ecological factor in the context of Ecological crisis
An ecological or environmental crisis occurs when changes to the environment of a species or population destabilizes its continued survival. Some of the important causes include:
- Degradation of an abiotic ecological factor (for example, increase of temperature, less significant rainfalls)
- Increased pressures from predation
- Rise in the number of individuals (i.e. overpopulation)
The evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium sees infrequent ecological crises as a potential driver of rapid evolution.
View the full Wikipedia page for Ecological crisis